Need a Romance with a Side of Fright? Here’s “Shadows Fall” by J.K. Hogan (character(s) interview, excerpt and giveaway)

ShadowsFall_FinalCoverRGB

 Shadows Fall by J.K. Hogan
Release Date: June 10, 2015

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Cover Artist: J.K. Hogan

JKBanner300x250

Sales Links: Wilde City Books

Our Mini Interview with Two Characters from J. K. Hogan’s Shadowfall, Titus and Charlie!

A Titus and Charlie Interview:

1. Now that you’ve gotten together, what comes next?

Titus: We’ve been so busy running from a psycho killer, we haven’t even had a chance to think about ‘next.’
Charlie: Oh…I was thinking we’d move in together.
Titus: *cough* Maybe we should talk about this later.

2. What was the hardest thing for you to overcome that you didn’t expect to be an issue?

Titus: Well, there’s the thing with the ghosts. That’s kind of a nuisance.
Charlie: Yeah, there’s that. It can be kind of creepy talking to Titus when he’s looking over my shoulder at something I can’t see. *shivers*

3. Who or what makes you laugh out loud?

Titus: Riot.
Charlie: Riot.
Titus: Riot’s my best friend. He’s…a character.

4. What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

Titus: Duh, I own a coffee shop, so definitely mocha.
Charlie: Orange Sherbet.
Titus: You’re so weird. You’re lucky you’re cute.
Charlie: So says the kid who talks to ghosts. Uh huh.

5. What movie will you watch over and over again?

Titus: Shelter.
Charlie: Die Hard!
Titus: *facepalm*

For more of Titus and Charlie, check out the blurb and excerpt below!

STRW Author BookSynopsis

A gift—or curse—gives Titus McGinty the unwanted ability to talk to ghosts. When he starts seeing the same few apparitions repeatedly, appearing with similar gruesome injuries, he begins to wonder what they want from him.

Detective Charlie Hale has a serial killer on his hands. On the loose for weeks, the Queen City Slayer has left the police nothing to go on, no forensic evidence other than what he wants found. The city is running out of time.

The crisis brings Titus and Charlie together—Titus stumbles upon a body and finds himself a suspect. Their budding romance is tested as they are sucked into a web of underground laboratories, restive spirits, and religious fanaticism. They’ll have to work together to find the identity of the killer before he takes his next victim…Titus.
Pages or Words: 102,000 words

Categories: Contemporary, Crime Fiction, Fiction, Gay Fiction, Romance, Thriller

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

I always hated walking home alone at night on the deserted city streets. But I couldn’t ask my employees to do something I was scared to do myself, so I’d taken the late shift. In the dark, the wandering dead became nothing but sliding shadows and hissing whispers. The phrase ‘jumping at shadows’ is apt, because there were things in the shadows.

Those things slithered around me, feeling much more insidious in the murky stillness of the nighttime city. Hands in my pockets, I gripped my four inch pocket knife that I always carried. Fat lot of good it would do me against mule, but there was a killer on the loose after all.

It was ill-advised, but I still blasted my music inside my headphones. I didn’t want to hear what the spirits had to say in gloam. I mostly kept my eyes glued to the sidewalk in front of me—don’t stand out, don’t make eye contact, make yourself invisible—but I cast glances all around my periphery to keep aware of my surroundings.

A tall, skinny man approached, heading toward me on the opposite side of the sidewalk. He wore dark jeans and a black hoodie with the hood pulled up, casting his face in shadow. I found that odd, as it was one of those warm, humid nights the Southern springtime was famous for. His dark eyes glittered at me from the empty void where his face should be, obviously a trick of the poor lighting.

As he passed me, he clipped my shoulder, throwing me off balance. I wanted to turn around and yell, but self-preservation intervened. I could probably take him in hand-to-hand, but he could be packing for all I knew. I put my head down and kept walking.

I yelped when a spirit appeared in front of me—unlike what movies and television showed, they didn’t usually just pop up. He was a young man, probably about my age, with pale skin, black hair, and eyes so blue they seemed otherworldly… and he was gorgeous. I blinked, hoping he’d disappear. No such luck.

He turned his head towards the building beside us that was being renovated, the entrance to which was blocked off with caution tape. Stretching out his left arm, he pointed to it, and I could see bone-deep gouges in his wrist and forearm. He glanced at me again. Look.

“Not tonight, okay?” I mumbled, trying to step around him. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared and rematerialized right in front of me. See!

“No,” I said, getting angry. I walked straight through him. Usually when I passed through a spirit, I just felt a slick, oily cold sliding through my body—but this burned like a vat of acid had been dumped over me. I screamed and fell to my knees.

He appeared in front of me again. As I looked up at him, still reeling from the pain, it occurred to me how new he must be. When a mulo first left its body, it still maintained some measure of its humanity. It was able to take and maintain a corporeal form more easily than the older spirits, and the ability faded with each day since its passing.

He pointed again and this time, his eyes took on a pleading quality. I could practically feel his anguish.

Struggling to my feet, I brushed myself off and sighed. “Fine, I’ll look. But then you need to leave me the hell alone. I ducked under the caution tape strung across the doorless entry of the run-down building. It was almost pitch black inside, but I got a vague sense of sawhorses and scaffolds. Tip-toeing for some inconceivable reason, I made my way into some kind of vestibule or foyer. I didn’t notice anything that this mulo would be so desperate for me to see, but I couldn’t really see much at all.

My foot hit something solid and I was afraid to go any further into the dark. Who knew what kind of hazards were strewn about the construction site. I dug out my iPhone and swiped it to turn on the flashlight app. A bright light shone out of the camera flash and illuminated the dusty room in front of me—and the man lying all too still on the floor.

I screamed for the second time in five minutes, stumbled back against a plastic-draped scaffolding and dropped my phone. I assumed it landed screen up, because the room was suddenly plunged back into darkness. With my skin crawling, I felt around on the floor for the hard case. Instead, I grabbed a cold leg.

“Holy God!” I shouted, scrambling backwards and sideways until my back hit a wall. My pulse pounded and my head was spinning with the urge to pass the fuck out, either from fright or hyperventilation. My muscles were on lockdown, frozen into that gray area between fight-or-flight, but I knew I had to find my phone so I could get the hell out of there.

And the body… I’d have to call someone. I poked around with the toe of my shoe, carefully avoiding the area of blackness where I thought the body was. Finally I felt the phone. I dragged it across the floor with my foot until I was able to pick it up. Everything was illuminated once again. “Oh thank God,” I said.

But once there was light, I could see him again. His head was turned to face away from me, but I knew that it was the guy from outside. Obviously he’d wanted me to find his body. It was laid out like a sacrifice, arms stretched out to reveal the deep cuts on his arms. I shivered. My brain was finally catching up to the situation, and I realized it was entirely possible that the killer could still be here.

I quickly got to my feet and lurched toward the dim light pooling at the doorway. As soon as I was out of there, I pressed my back up against the cool façade of the building and panted to catch my breath. I see the dead all the time, but I’d never actually seen a dead body before. I wasn’t sure what to do; the only thing I could think was call Charlie.

With shaking hands, I pulled up his number on my phone—I may have entered it from the business card he gave me after chasing Jay out of the shop. I pressed send and he picked up on the first ring.

“Hale.”

“Ch-Charlie?”

“Who’s this?”

“Titus.” My voice was shaking and I was embarrassingly close to tears. “I need help.”

“Tell me where you are and I’ll be right there.”

I rattled off my general location, already soothed by the sound of his voice, the confidence in it. “Please hurry,” I said.

“Stay put, I’m on my way.”

 

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

J.K. Hogan has been telling stories for as long as she can remember, beginning with writing cast lists and storylines for her toys growing up. When she finally decided to put pen to paper, magic happened. She is greatly inspired by all kinds of music and often creates a “soundtrack” for her stories as she writes them. J.K. is hoping to one day have a little something for everyone, so she’s branched out from m/f paranormal romance and added m/m contemporary romance. Who knows what’s next?

J.K. resides in North Carolina, where she was born and raised. A true southern girl at heart, she lives in the country with her husband and young son, a cat, and two champion agility dogs. If she isn’t on the agility field, J.K. can often be found chasing waterfalls in the mountains with her husband, or down in front at a blues concert. In addition to writing, she enjoys training and competing in dog sports, spending time with her large southern family, camping, boating and, of course, reading! For more information, please visitwww.jkhogan.com.

Where to find the author:

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialJKHogan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JK_Hogan
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jkhoganbooks/
Tumblr: http://officialjkhogan.tumblr.com/
Google+: https://plus.google.com/+JKHogan/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/jkhoganbooks

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: ebook copy of Shadows Fall by J.K. Hogan.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and Prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.
Rafflecopter Code:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

JKBannerTemplate

Tour Dates & Stops:
10-Jun
Love Bytes
Rainbow Gold Reviews

11-Jun
Cate Ashwood

12-Jun
Nephylim
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

15-Jun
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

16-Jun
Bayou Book Junkie

17-Jun
Amanda C. Stone
Elin Gregory

18-Jun
TTC Books and More
Divine Magazine

19-Jun
Mikky’s World of Books
Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings

22-Jun
BFD Book Blog

23-Jun
Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves
My Fiction Nook
Nic Starr

24-Jun
MM Good Book Reviews

25-Jun
Up All Night, Read All Day
Full Moon Dreaming

26-Jun
Happily Ever Chapter

29-Jun
Michael Mandrake

30-Jun
The Novel Approach

1-Jul
Prism Book Alliance

2-Jul
Hearts on Fire

3-Jul
Inked Rainbow Reads

6-Jul
Chris McHart
Multitasking Mommas

7-Jul
Molly Lolly
The Blogger Girls

Can Too Much Love Be Not Enough? The Bohemians by Sean Michael Has The Answer (excerpt and giveaway)

thebohemians600

The Bohemians by Sean Michael
Release Date: June 3, 2015

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Torquere Press
Cover Artist: BSClay

Banner300x250

Sales Links: Torquere Books – Amazon

STRW Author BookSynopsis

Topaz is a free-spirit, loving easily, though searching for his true soul-mate. As soon as he meets Quincy, he realizes this is the man who has been calling for him in his dreams and he offers his whole self, body, heart, mind and soul, without thought.

Quincy gives away his heart too easily, and has been hurt in love more than once. Still, that doesn’t stop him from falling head over heels for Topaz when he first meets the man.

It seems like a match made in heaven, but Topaz lives with two men who are his best friends, and also his lovers. Will Quincy ever be able to understand that Topaz has more than enough love in his heart for his best friends and his soul-mate, or will Topaz’s bohemian ways be too much for Quincy to understand?

Originally published in the Bus Stories Anthology.

Pages or Words: 28,000 words

Categories: Contemporary, M/M Romance, Ménage/Poly, Romance

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

Topaz parked the bicycle in the back yard and backed into the kitchen, bags in hand. “Daisy? Ku? I brought tomatoes and cilantro and some spinach on my way home from Rosa’s. They had beautiful honeydews, too.”

Grinning Leonaka grabbed the sacks with huge, calloused hands, shiny black hair held back in a braid. “What did she say, Topaz?”

He sighed, heading for the refrigerator for some tea. “She said I have to wait for him to come to me. That the spirits want me to be patient and calm.” He poured a glass and then brought the pitcher to the table, refreshing Leo’s and Stephan’s before kissing Stephan’s cheek. “I don’t do patient so well, Daisy.”

Topaz settled into a padded chair, watching Leo wash the food in the bright, sun-drenched kitchen. One of the kittens climbed up for her love, his fingers stroking her soft ears without hesitation.

Stephan smoothed the edge of Leo’s t-shirt down with graceful fingers and then came over and began to rub his shoulders. “You don’t do patient well? Leo, do you believe that?”

“Little bit, I have seen you sit for hours and hours, untangling a single skein of thread. You might be eager, but you are the most patient man I know.” Leo chuckled, gaze warm. “He’s that special?”

Topaz relaxed under Stephan’s magical fingers, the worries and negative energy of the day fading. “You should see his eyes, Ku. There’s something about them. Something I want to know all about.”

“They are a pretty blue,” Stephan added. “I haven’t seen you this excited about someone in a long time, Sunshine.”

“Oh, Daisy. It’s been so long since I had a soul mate. Someone who looked at me like Leo looks at you.” He turned his head, kissed Stephan’s fingers. “I know you two love me, but part of my heart is missing. Maybe making those eyes laugh is a piece of that.”

He heard Ku’s soft cluck, the worried sound that meant that Leo was sure he was leaping into open air without a net. Again.

Stephan’s hands tightened on his shoulders and then pet him gently, his friend sitting next to him. “How can we help, Sunshine?”

“Rosa did my cards, Daisy. She says he’ll come. That I should be still.” Topaz grinned, taking Stephan’s hand in his.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t let the universe know I’m interested though. I’m thinking some long meditations, a cleansing bath, a few candles lit in hope.” He gave Stephan a grin. “Maybe some more wildflowers?”

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Often referred to as “Space Cowboy” and “Gangsta of Love” while still striving for the moniker of “Maurice,” Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and pursuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to “Chicago.”

A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.

Barring any of that? He’ll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004713810507
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelWrites
Twitter: seanmichael09
Other: http://seanmichaelwrites.blogspot.ca/
Other: http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com/

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘The Bohemians’.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

SM Final Contest Ends


Tour Dates & Stops: June 15, 2015
Parker Williams, Divine Magazine, MM Good Book Reviews, BFD Book Blog, Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Kimi-Chan, Havan Fellows, Wake Up Your Wild Side, Hearts on Fire, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat, Happily Ever Chapter, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, The Hat Party, Molly Lolly, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Bayou Book Junkie, Mikky’s World of Books, Redz World, Rainbow Gold Reviews, TTC Books and More, Dawn’s Reading Nook, Velvet Panic, Iyana Jenna, Up All Night, Read All Day

Thank you and Let’s Keep It Going and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

  • Books with wings in the sky

 

So last Sunday I posted the need for LGBT YA books for the Prince William PFLAG library and the books started to arrive.  The response has been wonderful.  And the books and the donor’s large hearts so deeply appreciated.  There is nothing better than giving the gift of a book!  One book can make such a huge difference.  It can show you new worlds, give hope and encouragement, let you know that you aren’t alone in feelings or identity, or just take you away for just a moment from the pressing issues and stress that you might be facing.

PFLAG

Opening a book to me is similar to opening a TARDIS (yep, flying the Geek flag here).  The contents inside are so much bigger, surprising, endlessly fascinating and stimulating….an interior not guessed by the cover on the outside.  Why?  Because its also what we bring to it that can’t be quantified or known.  Who we are and what we bring to the books we read and what we take away from them.   From the comfort of Winnie the Pooh to the joy and pain of self discovery of C Kennedy’s Slaying Isidore’s Dragons, the gift of a book is often immeasurable.   Let’s keep them flowing.  Here is the link again to Lynn Schmitz, Prince William PFLAG facilitator and head of the donations to the  PFLAG YA Library.

 

We also added a new feature on Author Discoveries.  Reviewer BJ started it off with her discovery of author Jaye McKenna and BJ will be reviewing several of her books this week and next.  What new authors have you discovered?  Write us, tell us about their books and let us add them to our list of New Authors to read!

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words blog Badge

 

This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

familytimeanth1400Retrograde FinalThe Dom Around the Corner coverTaming the Lion cover

Sunday, June 14, 2015:

  • Thank you for the Donations and Let’s Keep It Going and This Week At Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Monday, June 15, 2015:

  • Sean Michaels’ The Bohemians Tour  – excerpt and giveaway
  • JK Hogan’s Shadows Fall Tour and Contest
  • A Paul B Review: Pride’s Children by Evan T. Konnor
  • A MelanieM Review: Protector of the Alpha by Parker Williams

Tuesday, June 16, 2015:

  • Killian B. Brewer ‘The Rules of Ever After’ Spotlight Post (giveaway)
  • AR Moler’s  “The LD50 of Memories” Tour and Contest
  • A Stella Review: Chasing the Rainbow by Kade Boehme
  • A MelanieM Review: Drama Queen by Joe Cosentino

Wednesday, June 17, 2015:

  • Parker Williams “Scent of the Heart” tour and giveaway
  • Book Spotlight: J.T. Hall: Friday at the 7-Eleven (giveaway)
  • A MelanieM Review: Scent of the Heart by Parker Williams
  • A BJ Review:  Facing the Mirror (Guardians of the Pattern #0.5) by Jaye McKenna

Thursday, June 18, 2015:

  • Riptide Tour:  The Dom Around the Corner by Christin d’Abo. (contest)
  • A New Bluewater Bay Release! “The Deep of the Sound”  by Amy Lane (tour and contest)
  • Torquere Books “Family Time Anthology” release tour and contest
  • A Stella Review: The Dom Around the Corner by Christine D’Abo
  • A Sammy Review: In the Shadow of a Hero by Anna Mayle

Friday, June 19, 2015:

  • Victoria Sue ‘Pure-Innocence‘ virtual tour and contest
  • Jeff Erno’s Guest Post, Blog Tour and contest
  • Make Me Soar by KC Wells Tour and Giveaway
  • ‘24-Karat Conspiracy‘ by EM Lynley‏
  • A MelanieM Review: Retrograde by RJ Scott

YA Saturday, June 20, 2015:

  • ISO YA Reviewers
  • A MelanieM YA Review: Wet Paint by Will Parkinson

Chasing the Rainbow coverPride's Children coverIn the Shadow of a Hero coverScent-400x600 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Book Spotlight: Silver Linings by Patricia Logan (excerpt and giveaway)

Silver-Linings--for-Amazon

Silver Linings by Patricia Logan
Release Date: June 11, 20115

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Publisher: Westburg Publishing
Cover Artist: AJ Corza
Goodreads Page

Banner300x250

Sales Links:   Amazon

STRW Author BookSynopsis

LAPD detective Cassidy Ryan has been living with his Dom, Zachary Teak, for more than two years. Having met when a serial killer targeted gay members of the online BDSM club owned by Zack, the men think they’ve put the past behind them… until another victim turns up.

When Zack receives a threatening note from the killer, the man convicted of the crimes becomes the focus of the investigation. Cassidy and Zack are thrown back into a nightmare and find the wonderful life they’ve built together unravelling.

Letting Cassidy take charge of their lives in order to protect Zack, is a hard thing for the Dom to take but his cop knows the score and protecting Zack is his priority even if that means ruffling the Dom’s feathers.

As the body count rises, the strength of their love will be tested as never before… because every story deserves… a silver lining.

Pages or Words: 66,890 words

Categories: BDSM, Contemporary, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Thriller, Erotica

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

“How do you want me to take you, Cassidy?” Zack asked between bites.

Cassidy looked over at his Dom, just a little surprised. “You’re asking me?”

Zack smiled at him and he could see the lust glittering in the dark orbs. “Yes. Sometimes… but don’t make a big deal out of it, Cass. It won’t be happening every time.”

Cassidy had somehow expected that answer and the growl in Zack’s voice was such a turn-on, he felt his cock begin to swell as he stared at him. Jesus, I’m the luckiest bastard on the planet. Cassidy knew how damned lucky he was to have found a man whom he could call soul mate. So few people ever did but he knew he had… every single goddamned time he looked at him.

“If that’s the case, Zack. I want my Dom in our bed tonight. I want you hot, hard, demanding… I want you to hold me down. I… I… may fight you, Sir…”

“You want me to work out your aggression?” Zack’s face was very serious.

Cassidy could see the Dominant rise to the surface in two point two seconds. He knew Zack loved seeing him capitulate to his demands and even more importantly, he loved doing just that.

“Yeah. The way I feel right now, Zack…”

“You want to hurt someone, don’t you?” Zack asked, though it wasn’t really a question. He’d nailed it.

“Yeah.”

Zack pushed his empty plate back and stood up, holding out his hand. “Come, boy. Let your Dom take care of that.”

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Red-headed maven of malevolence Patricia Logan resides in Los Angeles, California, but can be found at any given late hour in a playroom in Texas watching her boys playing in the nude… always with each other. Patricia channels gay erotic novels through her computer via black magic (and a dictionary) with a touch of BDSM while eating a BLT. She longs to tie you up and make you suffer through her writing. Haha

Where to find the author:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ploganauthor
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authorpatricialogan?fref=ts

Author Goodreads Page
Twitter: https://twitter.com/PatriciaLogan1
Author website: http://authorpatricialogan.com/

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

Giveaway: Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-book copy of ‘Silver Linings’. Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

BannerTemplate


Tour Dates & Stops:
11-Jun
Bayou Book Junkie
3 Chicks After Dark
MM Good Book Reviews

12-Jun
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
Nic Starr
Mikky’s World of Books
BFD Book Blog

15-Jun
Two Chicks Obsessed With Books and Eye Candy
Chris McHart
Jessie G. Books

16-Jun
Up All Night, Read All Day
Divine Magazine

17-Jun
Molly Lolly
Happily Ever Chapter

Can Tragedy Lead to Love? Find Out with Retrograde (Flight HA1710 #1) by RJ Scott (excerpt and giveaway)

Retrograde Final
Retrograde (Flight HA1710 #1) by RJ Scott
Release Date:  June 12, 2014

6 Authors, 6 Stories. This is the First!

Buy Links at RJ Scott’s Blog (preorder at Amazon & All Romance)

Read the inspiration behind the collection at RJ Scott’s blog.  For more information about the stories and authors involved, go to the end of the post or visit RJ Scott’s blog linked above.

Blurb:

Co-Pilot Lachlan Donaghue wakes up in hospital, a survivor of the crash of Flight HA1710, with memory loss and the suspicion that he could be at fault for the tragic accident. When everything becomes too much he goes home to hide, back to the small Scottish town he grew up in and to his family home.

Rory Kendrick watches the news, sees every hour of the disaster unfold but never thinks that Lachlan was in the middle of it all. Or that his friend will be forced to come back home to hide and to heal. What Lachlan needs is a friend, not a lover, but sometimes the lines are just too blurred to make any sense.

RJ Scott

About RJ

RJ Scott has been writing since age six, when she was made to stay in at lunchtime for an infraction involving cookies. She was told to write a story and two sides of paper about a trapped princess later, a lover of writing was born.

As an avid reader herself, she can be found reading anything from thrillers to sci-fi to horror. However, her first real true love will always be the world of romance where she takes cowboys, bodyguards, firemen and billionaires (to name a few) and writes dramatic and romantic stories of love and passion between these men.

With over seventy titles to her name and counting, she is the author of the award winning book, The Christmas Throwaway. She is also known for the Texas series charting the lives of Riley and Jack, and the Sanctuary series following the work of the Sanctuary Foundation and the people it protects.

Her goal is to write stories with a heart of romance, a troubled road to reach happiness, and most importantly, that hint of a happily ever after.  You can find/follow the author through the following sites:

Email:  rj@rjscott.co.uk
Website: http://www.rjscott.co.uk/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Rjscott_author
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/author.rjscott
LibraryThing: https://www.librarything.com/author/scottrj
Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rjscott  (some NSFW (not safe for work) photos)
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rjscottauthor/

Excerpt

Chapter 1

The day of the crash.

 

Lachlan Donaghue opened his eyes, cracked them just a little. Something had sideswiped him, glass in his hair, his hands gripping… to his left a person, eyes wide and open, facing Lachlan with not a spark of life left.

 

And red… orange. And silence. Utter and complete silence. 



He closed his eyes.

 

Rory. Help me. 



When he opened them again, this time there was no red, only the blur of a night sky, the black all encompassing. This time there was noise in the silence. A shout, crashes and bangs, and a sense of urgency in the people who stared at him now. 



“He’s alive.” 



“How the hell is he alive?” 



It hurt too much to keep his eyes open. 



Tell Rory I’m okay. Don’t let him worry. 



“Lachlan? Lachlan Donaghue? How old are you? Who is the Prime Minister? What is the Queen’s name? Lachlan? Can you hear me?” 



Who cares? I can’t even speak, let alone think. 



Lachlan answered… or at least in his head he answered, but his throat was tight, there was pain in his head and neck, and he was staring at whiteness and blinking at bright lights. 



Where had the red gone? And the black? 



“Lachlan. Open your eyes. Look at me!” 



I don’t want to. 



“Pupils responsive. Someone get him to the Ulster.” 



“He’s triaged for Downe.” 



“He’s the fucking first officer. Get him to the Ulster Hospital and away from the scene now.” 



Rory, I’m sorry. I should have told you I was sorry. 



The TV was loud, discordant, and scary with red and orange against black, and they were shouting at him from the screen. People walked around him, all the time talking about the TV—or was that the TV itself? Nothing made sense. 



“The Captain is dead.”

The words spun in his head, people talking around him; a chaos of noise. 



“Not… Andrew.” Lachlan murmured in despair. The staring eyes, the absolute stillness and quiet—Andrew was dead. Is everyone dead? Am I dead? What kind of hell was he in where they pushed him and held him, then took the pain away with needles? 



“Lachlan? Can you hear me? My name is Dr.…” 



The words faded, and he looked past the man who stared at him, looking instead at the screen, hearing the words all pilots dreaded to hear. Death. Destruction. Crash. 



His picture flashed on the screen labeled in yellow: Lachlan Donaghue, First Officer. Then there were safety records… and red … and orange. 



“And do you think, taking this into consideration, that the crash was deliberate? An act of terrorism? Or one of the pilots deliberately flying the plane into the ground?” A soft but insistent voice came from the TV. 



“There is nothing to indicate that at this moment. Neither of the black boxes have been located at this time—” 



“Do you know your pilots? Can the airline categorically say that the crash of Flight HA1710 was not pilot error?” 



“It’s too soon to comment—” 

“Can you say that?” 



Pause. 



“No. No we can’t.”

Giveaway

Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Open worldwide. Link and prizes provided by the author.

Giveaway:
Competition to win $15 Amazon/Are giftcard, closes 29th June at 00:01 GMT (London)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Or direct link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f922301b56/?

Series Promo banner

Flight HA1710 Collection

Book 1 – Retrograde, RJ Scott
Book 2 – Velocity, Sara York
Book 3 – Flashbulb, Clare London
Book 4 – Fallout, Meredith Russell
Book 5 – Aviophobia, Serena Yates
Book 6 – Fracture, Amber Kell

These are stories based around the crash, the man who missed the plane, the steward, the investigator, and just how one incident can change so many lives.

 

It’s Here! “The Love of Wicked Men” Series Box Set by Brandon Shire (excerpt and giveaway)

Wicked Men Box Set Cover

 

The Love of Wicked Men is serialized fiction at its wickedest!   It’s six parts of hotness and love!

First, let me say thanks for hosting the Wicked Men blog tour. The creation of this lengthy novel was quite an adventure. Throughout the course of writing each episode, readers were offered the opportunity to give their input and suggestions on how they thought the story should move along. And I threw in a few twists and surprises along the way, just to keep them on their toes. The Wicked Men blitz features seven unique excerpts, so don’t miss any. And don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Blurb

Sid Rivers and Jack Brown are two sides of the same coin. One is a lawyer with his own firm and dreams of money and power; the other is a criminal with a lengthy record and a quest for vengeance. When they meet, sparks fly. But was their meeting an accident? Or was it planned by the billionaires who want to control their destiny?

The Love of Wicked Men is an erotic journey into the underbelly of the legal profession, the corporate culture of profit-at-any-cost, and the secret world of industrial espionage.

Excerpt

Sid pressed a button on his desk and Cheryl opened the door. “The builders are here,” she informed him. “Anything else for today?”

“How do we look for tomorrow?” Sid asked.

“I’ve put everything on your calendar,” she answered, edging towards the door.

He saw Jack over her shoulder with two other men and dismissed her with a wave of his hand. He beckoned them in as Cheryl left.

“We’re ready to get started,” Jack said as soon as he came in.

“Did the receptionist give you the keys and codes for the security system?” Sid asked. All three of them were wearing tool belts, jeans, and blue t-shirts with an indistinct logo. They looked more like Chippendales than construction workers – chiseled jawlines, tanned skin, hard bodies with well-developed muscles. Even Cheryl’s decrepit old ass had given them the once-over on her way out.

“Bill and Marcus,” Jack said, indicating the two men behind him. “Most of tonight, we’ll pull down walls and make a mess. It should be cleaned up by the time you get here in the morning. Tomorrow, we’ll bring materials in and start the actual construction. Take about a week, more or less.”

Sid nodded, distracted by the light sheen of moisture that seemed to be covering Jack’s upper body. Was it that warm outside? he wondered as a whiff of Jack’s cologne wafted across the desk and made his cock twitch. “Yes, that sounds good.” Sid sat forward, almost leaning into the scent of the man in front of him.

Jack tilted his head. “You okay, Counselor?”

There was something in the chemistry… Sid didn’t know what the cologne was, but it was driving him fucking crazy. He knew someone else whose cologne had the same effect. He realized, with chagrin, that he was getting hard under his desk like a damned schoolboy. “Yes,” he said to himself more than to any of them. His eyes flicked to the two men flanking Jack. He noted their expressions, cleared his throat and sat straighter, tugging on his tie. “What about the security system we discussed?”

“Carl will be here later with the specs and the estimate. Should I leave them on your desk?” Jack asked as he turned to leave. The men behind him took Jack’s cue and went down the hall, toward the receptionist’s area.

Sid’s eyes dropped to Jack’s ass as he walked away. The man was fucking mesmerizing, and knowingly making a performance. Jack turned and caught Sid staring.

There was a restlessness in Jack’s eyes, and it took Sid a moment to realize what it was. It was the same unadulterated lust that had hooked Sid in the convenience store. Sid’s eyes flicked to his monitor, and away from the certainty in Jack’s gaze. “That’s fine.” He tried to be cavalier but failed.

Jack didn’t move. He stood there watching him, his demeanor dangerously sexual within the confines of the office.

“Was there something else?” Sid asked, trying to ignore him.

There was a pause before Jack answered. It was long enough that it brought Sid’s eyes back to Jack’s face.

“No.” Jack colored slightly. “Well, maybe.” He shuffled his feet for a moment and looked away. “Is there someone at home?” He looked at Sid directly for the answer, his eyes holding another electric jolt of curiosity and desire. When Sid didn’t answer immediately, he whirled for the door. “Never mind. You don’t have to answer that.” He walked out and closed the door behind him.

“Jesus Christ.” Sid let out a long breath, begging his cock to go back down. He had to fuck this guy, and soon.

Purchase Links

Buy direct from Brandon and save $1 with coupon code ilovemen at checkout!
Mobi | Epub

Also available at the following retailers:
Amazon | ARe | Kobo

About the Author

Great stories should not depend on gender or sexual preference of a character, but instead upon the strength of the characters and the honesty and urgency of the story.

Brandon Shire proves he understands the complexity of writing LGBT fiction from two very different viewpoints – serious and smexy. His serious fiction is written for those who enjoy a book, which explores life’s darker elements in a more literary form, while the smexy fiction is for those who enjoy a graphically erotic romance.

Regardless of the differentiation above, Brandon writes for people who enjoy being challenged, and for those who strive to understand situations they don’t typically encounter. He pens raw, emotional stories about characters, which readers will either love or love to hate.

Life and love are pretty damned special, but neither is always perfect. Life can be painful, and real love hard to find. Brandon’s fiction is an exploration of the (sometimes) arduous search for the happiness we all desire.

Connect with Brandon

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | GooglePlus | Tumblr

Giveaway

Using Rafflecopter below, enter to win ecopies of all Brandon’s books or one of five ecopies of The Love of Wicked Men Box Set. Open internationally. Must be 18 years or older to enter.  Link and prizes provided by the author and PAS Promotions.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wicked Men Blitz Banner

Follow the Tour

June 11
Diverse Reader & Boys in Our Books

June 12
3 Chicks After Dark, Attention Is Arbitrary, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, Bike Book Reviews, Book Reviews & More by Kathy, Charlie Cochet, Cup o’ Porn, Divine Magazine, Foxylutely, Gay Media Reviews, GGR-Review, Hearts On Fire, Love Bytes, Multitaskingmommas Book Reviews, Nautical Star Books, The Novel Approach, On Top Down Under Book Reviews, Prism Book Alliance, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words & Sinfully… Addicted to All Male Romance

Tour and materials organized by PAS Promotions

In the Book Spotlight: The Storm Before The Calm by Cate Ashwood (Author interview and giveaway)

StormBeforeTheCalm[The]FS

The Storm Before The Calm by Cate Ashwood
Release Date: June 5, 2015

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Goodreads Link
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Anna Sikorska

Sales Links at Dreamspinner Press
E-book – Paperback

My Interview with Cate Ashwood!

1. Dancing is so very sexual. Is that what made you make it a central component of your story?
Partly. I wanted the guys dancing together because there is such an intimate connection between partners when they’re dancing together. A lot of the time it can be sexual, but it goes beyond that too. There’s a level of trust needed for lifts, a certain amount of connection needed to know where your partner is at all times, even without looking at him. I wanted all that for Charlie and Max. And since dance is such an explicit form of expression, I needed Charlie to be able to come into who he was through something he loved.

2. When I think of dancers, I think of people totally at home in their skin. What is it about dancers that made you want to make it a passion for your characters?
That was a huge part of it! Dance was the one place that Charlie felt safe to be himself, even if he wasn’t able to admit out loud who he was. It was an outlet for him as it is for so many kids (and was for me, too, which makes it very close to my heart).

3. I can think of several of my favorite movies with dancing at its heart. From The Red Shoes to Dirty Dancing to The Turning Point, even today those movies take me to another place. Do you have any favorites? Or favorite dancers?
Oh God. So many! Of course the classics like Dirty Dancing and Strictly Ballroom. One of my favourites of all time is Singin’ in the Rain (which of course isn’t a movie about dancing, but there’s enough in it to make me giddy). And I’ll admit to loving the cheesier ones too, like Center Stage (which was huge for me when I was a kid), Step Up, and Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

4. What was the inspiration behind this title and characters?
The title comes from the song that I imagined them dancing to. “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room” by John Mayer. I love the song and I saw a video of a dance choreographed to it that lit a spark for Charlie and Max. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk9-qH5fyTU
When I heard that line of lyrics, I knew it was perfect for Charlie. It’s exactly his path–the storm is within him but eventually he finds his happily ever after.
Charlie came first. To a certain degree, he’s a very exaggerated picture of me when I was younger. Thankfully, I never went through anything close to what Charlie endured, but I knew people who did. The world can be an ugly place sometimes, and often people can’t even see it. Max was created for Charlie, not only to give him the love he deserved, but to help be the catalyst for Charlie to discover who he was.

5. I have always loved the “truthfulness” you seem to bring out of every situation in your stories when it comes to exploring a person’s growing aware of their sexuality. what do you think makes your scenes stand out with such authenticity and realness?
Wow. Thank you so much! I try to write as close to real life as I can. I know there’s a certain fantasy element that’s required when it comes to writing romance, but I always strive to make my characters as authentic as I can. I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was a bit of me in all of them, but I think that’s true for all authors. It’s impossible to create someone else without leaving traces of yourself within them.

In terms of sexuality, that’s difficult for me. I was raised in a very open household (I was taught about the birds and the bees at age 4) and my parents were always very supportive and welcoming of conversation and discussion if ever I had questions. Despite it all, I’ve always been borderline prudish when it came to talking about sex. I had a hard time telling my parents that my husband and I were going to have a baby because it would mean admitting that I wasn’t a virgin (which was ridiculous, I know). So for me, writing about characters coming to terms with themselves as sexual beings and expressing those emotions and that desire is liberating because I had such a difficult time with it myself.

6. What’s next for Cate Ashwood?
Lots! I have a book coming out at the end of the month that I co-wrote with L.J. LaBarthe called Brick by Brick. That one drops on the 29th.
On the 15th of July, the second book in the Newport Boys series (Keeping Sweets was the first) comes out. This one is Colt’s story!

I have a novel in edits right now called Tasting Notes. It’s the first in a new series and it’s about a venture capitalist who one day realizes that he has money but not happiness, so he takes off for California to spread his grandfather’s ashes and take a step back from work. He arrives and buys a winery on a whim, and then meets the son of the original owners who is none too happy about him taking over his parents’ legacy.

There are a few more books in the works, as well–I am set to finish the first book in yet another series in the next few days. This one is about emergency service personnel. The first book follows a paramedic and a forensic pathologist. I also have two more co-writes that will hopefully be finished soon, one with Skylar Cates, and the other with LJ. And then eventually finishing up all the series with a few standalones thrown in for good measure. It’s going to be a busy year!

STRW Author BookSynopsis

Charlie has one passion in life: dancing. It’s his salvation when it feels like the world is swallowing him whole. When his mom secretly secures him a spot in the summer intensive at the Free Rein Dance Company in New York, he is thrilled. He knows that once the summer ends, he’ll have to return to Beacon to get a job and help support his family, but for those two months, he can spread his wings.

In New York he meets Max, a junior instructor who is everything Charlie wishes he could be. Bold and self-assured, Max radiates pride in who he is. As they spend time together, Max shows Charlie what life can be like past the walls of his closed-minded home town. But Charlie doesn’t know if he’s ready to show the world who he truly is when standing in the spotlight is the last thing he wants.

Pages or Words: 62,000 words

Categories: Contemporary, Gay fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

My fingers tugged at the edge of the cardboard cozy wrapped around the cup as I waited for him to speak. The silence between us felt heavy, and the awkwardness settled in around me as he stared at me, his mouth quirked in a playful expression.

“What?” I asked finally.

“Nothing,” he replied, smiling. “So I guess we should get started.”

“Sure.”

“I think maybe just one, two songs at most. The festival isn’t until the end of the summer, so we have lots of time.”

“What festival is it again?” I asked.

“OutShine,” he responded.

“What kind of festival is that?” I asked.

“It’s a big arts festival that takes place throughout the city, mostly in parks. There are exhibits and performances, and a huge celebration at the end. It was started a few years ago to raise awareness and money for gay rights.”

“Oh. Are you… I mean….”

“Gay?” Max supplied.

“Yeah.”

“Yes. Are you?”

“I… no, uh I…,” I stuttered. I was stunned by how nonchalant and completely unapologetic he’d been about his sexuality, as though admitting to me he was gay was the most ordinary thing in the whole world. A part of me wished I could do that. I could nod and say the words like it was as natural as telling him I was blond or I liked chocolate ice cream.

“It’s okay, Charlie. No big deal. You don’t have to be gay to participate. Originally, all the artists were gay, but it has grown and evolved now to include everyone, which is how it should be,” Max said, shooting me an understanding look.

I should have corrected him. I should have told him, but I’d never said the words out loud. Hell, it was hard enough for me to form that three-word sentence in my head. Even as I sat there, my brain rebelled, doing its own version of sticking its fingers in its ears and humming. So instead of being honest with him about who I was, I let him assume I was something else.

 

RC

 

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Cate Ashwood wrote her very first story in a hot-pink binder when she was in the second grade and found her passion for writing. Her first successful foray into romance writing came five years later when she wrote her best friend, who was experiencing a case of unrequited love, her own happily ever after.
Cate’s life has taken a number of different and adventurous roads. She now lives a stone’s throw from the ocean, just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, her brand new little boy, and her two cats. Her life is filled with family and friends, travel, and, of course, books.

Where to find the author:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cate.ashwood
Facebook Author Page
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cateashwood
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cateashwood/
Other: http://www.cateashwood.com

 STRW Spotlight Contest Header

Giveaway: Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Link and prizes provided by the author and Pride Promotions. Enter to win a Rafflecopter Prize: E-copy of ‘The Storm Before the Calm’ by Cate Ashwood.

Rafflecopter Code:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

BannerTemplate

Tour Dates & Stops:
5-Jun
Rainbow Gold Reviews
Because Two Men Are Better Than One
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews

8-Jun
Chris McHart
Hearts on Fire
Boys on the Brink Reviews

9-Jun
Cathy Brockman Romances
Divine Magazine

10-Jun
3 Chicks After Dark
Bike Book Reviews

11-Jun
The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris T. Kat
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words

12-Jun
Amanda C. Stone
Love Bytes

15-Jun
Molly Lolly
BFD Book Blog

16-Jun
MM Good Book Reviews
Bayou Book Junkie

17-Jun
Prism Book Alliance
My Fiction Nook

18-Jun
Inked Rainbow Reads
The Hat Party

In Our Book Spotlight: Drama Queen ( A Nicky and Noah Mystery) by Joe Cosentino (author interview and giveaway)

Drama Queen Cover

Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery by Joe Cosentino
Publisher:  Lethe Press Books
Cover Art: Ben Baldwin

Release Date: June 6, 2015

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Sales Link: Lethe Press Books  – Amazon

Love a mystery?  Need a new m/m romance novel to read?  Why not combine them both with Joe Cosentino’s latest novel, Drama Queen (A Nicky and Noah Mystery) out June 6th?  We have all the information for you below.  Check it out!  Happy Reading.

And now onto my interview with Joe Cosentino!

 

Hello, Joe. Thank you for stopping by to chat with us today.

My pleasure. I love answering your questions!

Great. Here’s the first. When did you start writing?

As a kid I was the star of the plays in my friend’s garage. We forced our poor, unsuspecting parents to watch every one—including the lavish musicals! After college I became a professional actor, working in film, television, and theatre opposite stars like Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Bruce Willis, Charles Keating, Jason Robards, and Holland Taylor. Moving on to playwriting and ultimately writing novels seemed like an obvious next step.

Is Drama Queen your first novel?

I wrote a straight (with gay supporting characters) mystery/romance series about an ex-child star, the Jana Lane mysteries. Paper Doll is out now. Porcelain Doll and Satin Doll should follow soon. I also wrote the well-received An Infatuation, an MM romance novella published by Dreamspinner Press.

How did Lethe Press come to publish Drama Queen?

I noticed Lethe Press publishes many humorous, theatrically-styled gay books, and the company has been successful for fourteen years. After I submitted the manuscript, Steve Berman offered to publish it, saying he had great fun reading it.

Why did you write a gay mystery/comedy/romance series?

Can’t we all use a good laugh, a challenging brain twister, and a bit of romance? Drama Queen is the kind of book I like reading. It is funny, theatrical, sexy, wild, and wacky with a solid mystery full of plot twists and turns at its center.

How do you think up all the clues, red herrings, and surprises in the novel?

I’ve read every Agatha Christie novel and play many times. She is a genius at outlining when and where to give the reader what information. I love the inversion in her books, where she uses sleight of hand to lay out all the information, but not in a straight forward manner. The reader becomes the sleuth to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. I tried to do the same in this series.

Since you are a college theatre professor, is the series based on you, your colleagues, and students?

Do you mean if anybody at my college ticks me off, I kill him/her in the series? Hah. To be honest, I like my colleagues and students too much to murder them in my books. Martin Anderson, Nicky and Noah’s department head, is based on me. He’s a loyal, hardworking department head and professor who fully supports his faculty colleagues, office assistant, and the students in his department. Like me, he is also a little bit, well quite a bit, of a gossip. My knowledge of theatre is also very evident in the series. The other characters and the location came from my head. As my mother says, “How do you think up all these crazy things? Well, you always were a bit crazy as a kid.”

Nicky is described as being well endowed. Does that help him solve the murders?

It doesn’t hurt. Hah. Nicky has to flirt his way into some places to get certain information, so his handsome face, muscular body, and huge penis are definitely assets. Even more, however, Nicky and Noah use their theatre skills, including playing other people, to get clues. Most of all, Nicky uses his smarts, always a fine asset in an amateur detective.

Nicky is of Italian-American decent, like you. Is that a coincidence?

Not at all. I come from a very funny Italian family. I use that in a great deal of my writing. In later books, we get to meet Nicky and Noah’s parents, and they are a riot!

How many books have your written so far in this series?

Three: Drama Queen, Drama Muscle, and Drama Cruise. In Drama Queen, Nicky and Noah have to uncover why college theatre professors are dropping like stage curtains. In Drama Muscle, Nicky and Noah have to find out why musclemen are dropping like weights in the Physical Education department while Nicky directs the Student Bodybuilding Competition. In Drama Cruise, Nicky and Noah go on a cruise to Alaska, and discover why college theatre professors are going overboard like lifeboats while Nicky directs a murder mystery dinner theatre show onboard ship.

Is Drama Queen available as an ebook and paperbook?

Yes! I am thrilled about that. This gives the reader an option to read it on a Kindle, Nook, computer, or with book in hand on the beach or in bed.

Will there be an audiobook coming down the line?

I sure hope so. It’s all up to God—and to Steve Berman!

STRW Author BookSynopsis

It could be curtains for college theatre professor Nicky Abbondanza. With dead bodies popping up all over campus, Nicky must use his drama skills to figure out who is playing the role of murderer before it is lights out for Nicky and his colleagues. Complicating matters is Nicky’s huge crush on Noah Oliver, a gorgeous assistant professor in his department, who may or may not be involved with a cocky graduate assistant…and is also the top suspect for the murders! You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino’s fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat, delightfully entertaining novel. Curtain up!

STRW Spotlight Book Excerpt

An Excerpt from Drama Queen:

“Thirty-five! Professor, you are well preserved for someone so old.”
“I hope I’m still working at thirty-five.”
To Paul and Ricky, and to all of my students, thirty-five is older than Methuselah.
“The first one back with a piece can feed me,” said Paul with a bad boy grin.
“No food in the theatre.” After laying down the law, SuCho yanked open the theatre doors and the students filed out into the lobby.
Ariella, our Professor of Costuming and the costume designer for the play (with costumes hanging over both arms) carefully made her way off the stage and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Happy birthday, Nicky.”
“So you’ve heard I’m ancient…and incompetent.”
Flicking back her long, black hair, Ariella said in her usual monotone, “Don’t let the kids get to you, Nicky. And don’t let David get to you either. The show is terrific.”
I unleashed a half smile. “Tell David that.”
“I already did. Right after his tirade about the ‘pedestrian and mundane’ costumes. Nicky, David doesn’t like anything, except David.” Are there tears brimming in her dark eyes? “Nobody knows that better than me.”
“Ariella, I hope this isn’t too personal, but with all of your complaints about David, why do you stay married to him?”
She offered a bitter smile. “That my friend is a very good question.”
Ariella went to the Costume Shop adjacent to the stage. I joined the students who were scattered throughout the theatre lobby licking their plastic forks clean of cheesecake while texting each other in dismay over the rising tuition at the college.
Paul, Ricky, Kayla, and Jan sat on the flared stairway leading to the balcony. Kayla, a beautiful dark-skinned African American, and Jan, a gorgeous pale-skinned Albino, were on either side of olive-skinned Ricky as if forming a three-layer cake. Paul faced them and appeared to be presenting some type of proposal. Since they are the officers of the Theatre Club on campus, I assumed they were discussing club business. As I am the club’s faculty advisor I walked over, leaned on a gold marble column, and overheard their conversation.
Jan whispered, “I don’t know if I can um go through with this, guys.”
Paul arched his massive back and slipped his muscular arm around her quivering shoulder, “Sure you can, Jan. Trust me. I’ll take care of everything.”
As Jan melted, Kayla combed her hair and giggled. “It could be like fun.”
With eyes only for Paul, Ricky said, “If you um want me to do it, Paul, I’m in.”
I made my way to the gold staircase railing, and asked if they needed my help.
“No thanks, professor, we’re cool,” said Paul with a contraction and release of his pectoral muscles to the delight of his cohorts.
“Cool cake, professor.” Kayla and Jan giggled as they each fed a piece to Paul.
Ricky added with a smirk, “Paul and I can like drive you home if you are too old to drive, professor.”
I grimaced. “Very funny.”

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Joe Cosentino is the author of An Infatuation (Dreamspinner Press), Paper Doll the first Jana Lane mystery (Whiskey Creek Press), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming novels are Drama Muscle the second Nicky and Noah mystery (Lethe Press), A Shooting Star (Dreamspinner Press novella), A Home for the Holidays (Dreamspinner Press holiday novella), and Porcelain Doll the second Jana Lane mystery.

Contact/follow Joe Cosentino at the following sites:

Web site: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JoeCosentinoauthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoeCosen
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00KRPXJP6

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

Giveaway:  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.   Prizes provided by the author.  Enter to win an ebook (any format) of Joe Cosentino’s previous release AN INFATUATION (a Bittersweet Dreams novella published by Dreamspinner Press in February) to whomever you deem posts the best comment about their thoughts on the blurb of DRAMA QUEEN (my current release).

Drama Queen CoverBook Details:

Paperback: 194 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (June 6, 2015)
Language: English
Cover Design: Ben Baldwin
ISBN-10: 1590214676
ISBN-13: 978-1590214671
Release date: June 6, 2015

YA Books with Kink? James Comins on Writing Kink for YA age Readers and “Fool School” (guest post and contest)

FoolSchool_FinalCover

Title: Fool School by  James Comins
Publisher: Wayward Ink Publishing

Its a pleasure to have James Comins here today.  The author will be letting us into writing YA stories and its challenges with sex.  On to our guest post by James Comins.

fs-250

On Writing Kink for Kids  by James Comins

I think I’ve only read one book in my whole life that features kinksters. It was, oddly, a kids book: Incarceron, by Catherine Fisher. It’s only a small glimpse, and the sequence and the world don’t reflect modern consensual kink in any way. Other than that and a few internet fiskings of that awful Fifty Shades book, I’ve never read any kink-based books.

I remember, as a kid, wanting to. I’d watch and re-watch scenes in Ninja Turtles where someone got captured. I’d thrill to sequences in movies where people got tied up by evil villains. Or books in which the bad guys faced their comeuppance and had to be thrown into cramped prisons forever, and I’d think, how exciting! Why couldn’t that be me? I’d play-act getting captured by Shredder, or Dr. Claw, and my best friend would ask when it would be our turn to get the bad guys.

Never. It was much more fun to be got.

But all of the stories I watched and read as a kid were stories of bad guys capturing the good guy’s girl against her will, then getting punished for it–also against their will. There was never any question of consent; the mere notion that anybody would want to be punished, or want to be held captive, was so crazy that nobody–with the possible exception of Patricia Wrede’s Princess Cimorene, who was quite happy to get captured by a dragon, thank you–ever imagined it. Nowhere could be found stories of trustworthy romantic partners you could trust to make your life more exciting (and scary!), or stories of princesses who sought out evil sorcerers in order to punish them because they’d been bad, or even just two adults who had a slightly peculiar power dynamic (with the exception of innumerable picture books featuring gargantuan women married to feeble little milquetoasts).

But no kink.

And the thing is, kinksters like me are as alienated and different from vanilla straight people as gay people are. I don’t “get” vanilla. It’s a world I don’t fit into at all. Lacking positive role models in movies and books, we wind up pining for a world in which the ethoses (ethi?) of slavery, cults, or God forbid, Goreans are the backdrop to human life. This freedom business is simply alien to us. A lot of kinksters have wound up skulking as inverts in the kink closet out of shame about their identity. Our society just doesn’t have many places for people to be out and kinky.

So I tend to feature kinksters of various sorts in my kids books. I want readers to have role models–both positive ones to aspire to become, and negative counterexamples. In Casey Jones is Still a Virgin  I show the good and bad of a newbie entering a kinky relationship. In My Dad is a Secret Agent, I lay out a world of strict discipline and no choices. In Fool School , the protagonists see various sides of authority in a medieval world where authority may never be questioned. I hope kids get to see what a healthy kink-based corner of society could look like.

This is the world I live in. Power vs learned helplessness, cruelty vs noblesse oblige, bossy girls and demonic kings and sassy slaves and snuggly loving relationships that happen to feature Hello Kitty nipple clamps. Having dwelt in the internet for much of my life, I know I’m not alone. I hope my stories can provide kids with a sense that, as gay kids have rapidly been learning, it does get better. Grownups get a huge advantage in life, which is that we get to surround ourselves with a reality of our own invention, one that bends and distorts through whatever lens we bring to it. My lens happens to be kinky, and those are the stories I most often tend to write about. Kids might have to dwell in consensus vanilla straight cis white male culture, but they can escape through books.

And that’s what books are for. They give you a window into a world slightly different from your own. A new lens, a new garden of possibilities. Sometimes an escape, but always a place to go where the bad things in society can’t follow.

Synopsis

In the year of our Lord 1040, fourteen-year-old aspiring jester Tom is en route to Bath to begin his studies in the art of being a Fool, following in the footsteps of his father, and his father before him.

Along the way he meets Malcolm, a fire-haired boy with eyes green as forest glass. A Scotsman whoís escaped from the ravages of the usurper Macbeth, Malcolm elects to join Tom at school. Though the journey to Bath is hazardous, it pales in comparison to what they face at the austere and vicious Fool School, where all is not as it seems. A court jester must aim to be the lowest rung on the ladder of life, and the headmaster will not abide pride.

As they journey through lifeís hardships together, Tom and Malcolm find they only have each other to depend upon.

Genre: Young Adult, gay romance, historical

Excerpt

Fool School Excerpt 2
by James Comins

It’s strangely gratifying when one of your audience finds joy, actual joy, in the music you make. Reassuring. The ealdorman conducts with his fat fingers, a genuine stupid smile on his lips.
There’s danger, too, in overplaying to the one man in the audience who’s happy with your performance. I overplay to this man.
“Enough,” sighs the ealdorman’s wife before long, and my tune dies away. I feel a pit of danger inside my chest. A warning. I see that the ealdorman himself is not the most powerful person in the room.
“But… eh… darling,” he murmurs, “don’t you think… couldn’t we… he’s but a boy-”
“Enough,” she repeats.
“Madame,” I find myself saying, “how may I entertain you?”
The room fills with a terrifying void, borne from her cold Welsh blood. A mist of icicles forms over the longtable draped by the red tablecloth, and people find their hands halfway to their mouths, food raised but uneaten. I fear for my life. I will be hanged now, taken to a gallowbraid and thrown off the side of the platform by this dark-eyed woman and her timid, complying husband. I will be kept in the wine cellar until dawn, swatting drunken mice, and in that moist-eyed fresh breath of day I will see the whole of creation pass before me as I take fugue steps up from the damp to the sunlight and the dew of summer’s toil, my feet drawn by the woman’s harsh words toward a fate of breathless… and… but here the ealdorman’s wife is speaking to me.
“Play a love song,” she whispers, and this is somehow worse than being executed on the gallows.
I don’t understand love. I say so. She dismisses it.
“Madame,” I repeat, “I’ll play for you, but I know nothing of love.”
“Yes,” her lips say, “that’s what I want to hear again.”
I’m frightened of her passion.
There is an old song, some say it comes from Master Boethius himself, that speaks of the devotion that the constant Penelope felt toward her husband, the warrior errant, Odysseus. It speaks of long years alone, sequestered in a house surrounded by enemy lovers like flies buzzing. They’re trying to convince her that her husband is not coming back, that she is alone, but she is strong, a fire buffeted by the wind, and she maintains, year after solitary year, tending her flame.
I cannot sing it-there’s a thousand thousand verses, well, not really, maybe five, but they’re long. However, the melody is familiar. I can play it on the recorder.
There is a very different world inside your head and in the shape of your mouth, playing a love song.
It begins in the first note.

fs-640

Buy Links

Don’t miss the 30% discount of the Mammoth May Sale on Wayward Ink Publishingís website!

Book trailer

Giveaway

Prizes: $20 WIP Gift Card and 1 ebook copy of Fool School.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter  Link and prizes provided by Eyes On Books Promotions and the author.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

fs-fb

About the author

JAMES COMINS is incapable of writing about himself in the third person. His future autobiography will probably be titled, ìThe Man Who Groaned His Way Toward Death.î He writes stories for children and adults.

Born down the street from Stephen King, he now divides his time between Denver and Seattle.

JAMES COMINS can be found at:

image001

In the Spotlight: Bound with Love (Regency Reimagined) by Megan Mulry (excerpt and giveaway)

BoundWithLove_400x600

Bound with Love (Regency Reimagined) by Megan Mulry
Published by Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

STRW In The Spotlight Header

Release Date:  June 8, 2015
Sales Link:   Riptide Publishing

STRW Author BookSynopsis

A perfect life—until one letter threatens to unravel it all…

Lady Vanessa Cambury, Marchioness of Camburton, adores her life of bucolic contentment with her partner, acclaimed portrait painter Nora White. Together, they have raised two children from Vanessa’s first marriage and built a home filled with purpose, ease, happiness, and passion—always passion.

But when Nora receives word that the child she lost twenty years ago is alive and in England, ancient heartache threatens to destroy their idyll.

To salvage their love, they must come to a deeper understanding of who they are—in the world, and to one another.  Nora must learn to overcome the dark shadows of her past. Vanessa must learn to put others’ needs before her own. And Nora’s stubborn daughter must find it in her heart to forgive the mother she thought abandoned her. This unconventional family must rely on the powerful links of love and mercy to bind them back together.

To read an excerpt, visit Riptide Publishing’s Bound With Love page

Book Details:

ebook, 136 pages
Published June 8th 2015 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN139781626492639
edition languageEnglish
series Regency Reimagined

STRW Author Bio and Contacts

Megan Mulry writes sexy, stylish, romantic fiction. Her first book, A Royal Pain, was an NPR Best Book of 2012 and USA Today bestseller. Before discovering her passion for romance novels, she worked in magazine publishing and finance. After many years in New York, Boston, London, and Chicago, she now lives with her family in Florida.

Connect with Megan:

Website:  http://meganmulry.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4123439.Megan_Mulry
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/meganmulry
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/meganmulrybooks/
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MeganMulry
Email:mailto:megan@meganmulry.com

STRW Spotlight Contest Header

BoundWithLove_TourBanner (1)

Every comment on this blog tour enters you in a drawing for a $15 Riptide store credit. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on June 13. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Don’t forget to add your email so we can contact you if you win! Must be 18 years of age or older to enter.  Prizes provided by Riptide Publishing and the author.

Regency Reimagined invites you to enter a sensual realm that defies the rules of polite society, where convent girls are more than curious, and dukes and earls are eager to oblige them—and each other. Pull back the curtain . . . and step into a passionate world that knows no traditional bounds. – See more at Riptide Publishing’s Regency Reimagined Page.

Books in the Regency Reimagined Universe are:

  • Bound to Be A Groom): female/female, female/male, male/male, menage, multiple partners –
  • Bound with Love (A Regency Reimagined Story) female/female, female/male, male/male, menage, multiple partners
  • Bound with Passion (A Regency Reimagined Novel) – same pairing as above
  • Bound with Honor (A Regency Reimagined Novel)- same pairings as above